Open your eyes

Denissa and I spent the morning in a lovely little cafe in town, eating French croissants, sipping heavenly cafe-au-lait, and planning our lessons for the next few days (there are some good parts about being in a French dominion).
At 4:00 I went to my longest-running children's class, where the kids are starting to understand the concept of "no hitting". There were only 6 kids when I arrived there but I started anyway because I have discovered that the longer you wait for people, the longer it takes for them to come, but if you just start, they magically appear. And sure enough, the kids slowly started filtering in as the singing started. By the time I got to story time, I started to realize that there were more children than usual and the noise was steadily increasing, so when we got into a circle to play the game, I made a quick count...I was surrounded by 23 little children, not including the 5 babies who came with their older sisters. To say it was chaotic would be an understatement, and I am proud to report I am going hoarse! But there is no way to turn the children away...life here happens outside and events are for everyone...not only do we not want to turn children away, it would be impossible; they would only stand on the sidelines and sing along.
After the children's class we wait for an hour to have our junior youth class. It is never a lonely wait. One thing that holds true for children everywhere is that they all need physical affection; they all want to be held, hugged, patted, squeezed, any kind of touch. In some cultures however, like this one, it is not commonly done, and now that the children have figured out that we want to be close to them, they won't let us go. We never have a hand free, and there is usually one of two children on our backs. It never gets annoying either.
It was the first night for my first junior youth group. I was very excited and it turned out to be a wonderful evening. There are eight junior youth, all incredibly bright, fun, and enthusiastic. When we began reading from the book we'll be using, one of the boys very adamantly stated he did not want to read. I agreed but when it came time to pair up for group reading I took the boy aside and asked him to read, which he did! The only problem was that he was not confident in his reading and so it was slow and he occasionally stumbled over some words. He tried to guess the words instead of making a mistake reading the syllables. I silently cursed an outdated education system, offered him some encouragement and he continued. By the end of the class he was asking if he could be next to read.
The smile that appears on a face, be it adult, youth or child, when they realize they can do something, is a reward worth more than all the money and jewels on the planet.
At one point during the class, one of the boys sitting next to me said something funny, so I reached over to pat him on the head, and he automatically pulled away and closed his eyes. I almost died! It was at that moment I realized what all these kids go through at home. I apologized profusely, stopped the class, and re-explained that I would never hit them and why I didn't want them to hit each other. It was a real eye-opener.
At 9:00, when I got up to leave, they all started asking "Can we have this tomorrow?" "Can we keep our books?" "What's our homework?" "Why can't we go to 10 o'clock?" I am very excited to see what will come from this group.


Lesson Learned:
Sometimes people want advice, and sometimes they just want to be listened to. It's hard to know the difference. It is even harder to be a good listener. But the hardest of all is trying not to indulge pointless complaining and backbiting, since that only causes disunity and discontent.

Joy gives us wings

I held my regular French class in the morning. On the lesson plan for today was to go over numbers again, something that had proven disastrous last week. However this week, I had a Taki Taki lesson under my belt and knew how to translate all the numbers. When the women heard me speak they all started giggling and the class from then on was much more fun, as well as educational.
I began another children's class in another neighborhood of Vampire. It was at the house of the Captain (a sub-chief of the Saramaka tribe), a Baha'i, who politely welcomed me and excused himself...men do not interfere in the activities of women and children.
It was a lovely group of slightly older kids, which is always nice since they understand what you're talking about! However, the best part of the class was the women who sat around and learned the quotation on unity with the children and then asked for coloring sheets.


That night we attended of second 19-day Feast in French Guiana (the Baha'i calendar contains 19 months, each with 19 days, and Baha'is gather at the beginning of each month). In attendance were 5 youth, 1 adult, and 32 children! Needless to say, the Feast consisted mainly of singing and children's presentations, which was wonderful!



Lesson Learned:
As much as negative attitudes are contagious, so are positive ones. Enthusiasm and a joyful heart renders any task more enjoyable, successful, and helps others enjoy it too.
Some things in life don't go as planned, and if we have the detachment to accept this, we can make the best of any situation.

A Weekend to Remember

After having caught up a little on sleep I am able to sit down and write about our first youth gathering and our first weekend spent in the villages; a weekend of many experiences, lessons, and lots of fun.
Saturday night started a series of weekly youth gatherings combining discussion, writings from different religions, and the arts on a series of subjects related to religion and society. Our first topic was "true religion". We were a small group of two Baha'i youth, our friend Jules, and one of our neighbors. The discussion was focused on understanding what everyone thought of the term "religion", what it's true essence is, and the role it plays in society and in our individual lives. The best part of the evening was that there were so many opinions shared but there was never a slight bit of conflict that arose and in the end everyone concluded that the world's religions are not actually that different and that they should be the cause of unity. After the discussion we spent a little time trying to understand the history of the different religions and then worked together to create a collage of different religious symbols. Here were these six people, all with different opinions and definitely from different backgrouds, working together to create something beautiful that we all agreed on. Symbolic eh?

At about ten o'clock, we packed everything up, grabbed our backpacks and hammocks, and drove out to Wagi Pasi, a village about 15 minutes out of town, where we would be spending the night. We were already quite tired and were looking forward to just being able to go to sleep....no such luck! As soon as we got to Alieni's, our hostess and had put our bags down we were informed that there was a birthday party down the road and we HAD to go! So at 10:30 at night we walked down a pitch black road to another area of the village. After Denissa and I switched our rings over to the ring finger (to avoid uncomfortable situations) we found a few people we knew and danced the night away! The music went from pre-recorded to spontaneous drumming that would last for an hour. You could just lose yourself in the rhythm and the energy! The rings unfortunately didn't help much so we decided to go back at around 3:00 (we were completely exhausted too). Then came the greatest challenge...putting up hammocks for the first time ever in candlelight at 3:00 in the morning!

With quite a bit of help from Alieni's sons, Vaizal and Euginio, we finally got them tied up and collapsed into them...well, I wish it had been that simple. Sleeping in a hammock is not as easy as it sounds. For one, we were sleeping in an open hut so we had to use a mosquito net slipped around the hammock, which gives you about an inch of breathing room. But you must also find "the position" in which you can have a comfortable sleep...it involves lying at a certain angle at which point the hammock straightens out and you don't wake up feeling like a smused banana. It was challenging and I am sad to report I was quite unsuccessful, but we had fun, which is the most important! After all, we will be sleeping in Wagi Pasi every Saturday so by the end of the year we'll get it.
Thankfully, we got to sleep in but by 10:00 it was so unbearably hot we had to get up. Struggling out of our hammocks, we were greeted by Sebastienne, the 8-year old daughter of our host, who accompanied us down to the creek where we washed up. Our bottles of shampoo caused quite a commotion, as did the sight of wet bakra hair (bakra is word used for white person - i.e me). It's strange enough when it's dry but I guess it's even stranger when it's wet!
We went back to our hut (seen below)


We had a breakfast of bread and tea surrounded by about every child in the village, and then, since we were all extremely tired, we all (myself, Denissa, Sebastienne, and some of the sons of our host) crawled back into our hammocks and sang songs for about an hour. We were taught a prayer in Saramaca (one of the languages spoken here and made up funny stories. It was the perfect relaxed Sunday.





Respect calls for us to visit people in the village so we went around greeting people in our broken Sranan Tongo (another language spoken here, much easier than Saramaca, but which everyone speaks). My favorite visit that morning to the matriarch of the village, Abanti, who lives up on a hill. We had met her before and the news that I was from Congo had sent her into a fit of clapping and laughing so she was extremely welcoming when she saw us. We spent a few minutes talking about how she found the Baha'i Faith and answering questions about Canada and snow, but then she settled back into her hammock and fell asleep and we felt it would be appropriate to leave at that point. After visiting the sculptor's hut and getting a quick lesson, we ate lunch, this time surrounded by fewer children (I guess the novelty had worn off). We thanked our hostess and left to take her sons to another village quite a ways away where they teach a children's class. While we waited for them, we met with some of the villagers to have a French class at some point next week, and then sat in the sculptors' hut, where about 6 men work on wood crafts.


We had the most interesting and random conversation I have ever had in a combination of English, French, Dutch, Sranan Tongo, and an invented sign language. It was fun, but did make me think about how important it is that we develop a universal language which all people can learn in addition to their mother tongue; not as a way to eliminate diversity but rather to facilitate the sharing of cultures. It is sad to think of how much more we could have learned from these men, and Abanti, and all the other people we meet every day, if we were able to properly communicate!
When the children's class ended, a prayer meeting was held in the hut where we were, at which the children are encouraged to tell what they learned that day. We drove Vaizal and Euginio home and raced back to our 7 o'clock Sranan Tongo lesson.
Yawning and eyelids drooping, we prepared for today's lessons and collapsed into bed, grateful for the straight surface but missing the fun of our hammocks and the breeze of an open hut.



Lesson Learned:
The Western world has developed so many tools and objects to make physical life easier, but they have sped up the pace of daily life to the point where we have no time to enjoy the relative ease with which we can live it. Every time we try to slow down it only feels like things get backed up and pile up more. That society must work together to slow itself down and take time to appreciate the little things in life - taking time to just sit with friends, without having to worry about work and appointments; allowing children to just wander, without rushing them to this class and that practice; sitting and meditating about our purpose on this beautiful planet and what each of us can do to keep in beautiful for the generations to come.

Clarification

I would like to post a clarification/elaborate on my last lesson learned after having received some questions about it.
"Gratitude for things and people makes detachment from them a little easier"
True, it is a bit of an obscure thought and one that is not ALWAYS true. The thought arose from a myriad of other thoughts, including missing my family, the death of a friend, and the loss of another one to marriage. I began to consider why I was having these thoughts, and a reason that they all had in common was that I didn't express my gratitude to those people enough and so it was harder to be far away from them/lose them. If I had told them more often how much I loved them, how thankful I was that they were in my life and grateful for all the things they brought to the planet, it wouldn't hurt so much to be far away. In a way the same thing goes for objects or possessions. To be grateful for the things you have or the opportunities you are given in life makes you appreciate them more and in a way prepares you for them to be taken away. If not that, then at least it isn't as much of a shock if they are lost.
I realize that this probably makes little sense but it is difficult to explain. This was my personal interpretation of the connection between gratitude and detachment and I hope that others can draw their own conclusions and interpretations from it.

Lesson Learned:
Think before you speak, write, and act.

Life goes on

What a wonderful day! We have begun our activities in a new area and I am so delighted!
We had the morning off to prepare for all the activities and totalled up all the hours we will be working a week: 35; not including irregular activities, travel time, or prep. This is excellent because our goal was to be working 40 hours a week including all those things! So we reached our goal!
At 2:30 we left the house for the village of PK10. It is an entirely Baha'i village but has had some trouble in keeping up activities, but the people have a wonderful spirit and were very welcoming! We met all the adults of the village in the main hut to introduce ourselves and explain what we would be doing (all this in French with translation into Saramaka, one of the languages spoken here). Following this we held a deepening in the same hut on the subject of the Covenant. This Covenant is between God and us, His creatures. The Baha'i teachings on this subject say that God created us out of His love for us and therefore He has promised that He will never leave us alone. In order for us to understand His will, He sends us Manifestations who give us Holy Writings and teachings and allow us to know God, though we can never fully understand Him. Among these Manifestations are Jesus Christ, Mohammed, and Baha'u'llah, the Manifestation of God for the Baha'i Faith. Our side of the Covenant is that we must recognize His Manifestations and follow their teachings. It is an uplifting topic of discussion and also very comforting to think of God's love surrounding us and guiding us.
At 4:00, we broke apart. Denissa took the young children to their class and I had the privilege of teaching a French class to 7 beautiful women. In the West, we really take our education for granted, but being allowed to work with these women will make anyone appreciate their opportunity to go to school so much more. These woman are all mothers, in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and are completely illiterate, and yet they have more enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge than anyone I have ever met. These French classes are meant to be for conversation only, as they are meant to help the women obtain "Carte de Sejour" here (this is a French Dominion, and in order to obtain a 10-year legal stay card you must speak French). But these women are so enthusiastic and eager that they have learned to write their name (for some it is the only thing they can write) and we will slowly be learning how to read together. They are so cute, they could not stop giggling! It was great fun!
At 5:30, Denissa switched to a Junior Youth class (ages 11-14) and I went a little further down the road to the village of Boussiman to teach a children's class.
I truly was spoiled in this class. The children are adorable and so well-behaved! I know I sound surprised but it is extremely difficult to discuss spirituality with young children if they have not learned how to sit still, so my job is made 20 times easier when they do..hence, I was spoiled! I had 16 children ranging from age 3 to 12 and the highlight of the evening was memorizing the quotation! Every lesson has a quotation from the Baha'i writings that goes with the theme of the lesson. As this one was on unity, the quotation is:
"So powerful is the light of unity that it can illumine the whole earth".
It is a lot easier to memorize these with young ones if you add actions to each word and it works even better if they come up with the actions. So for the word "unity", they chose to all hold hands! But there wasn't enough room in the hut so we went out into the middle of the village and started yelling this quotation at the top our lungs for everyone to hear and then halfway through we all held hands...it was beautiful to see!
The greatest challenge (with all my children's classes) has been to get the children to call me by my name! It is impossible! No matter how many times I remind them, and Denissa says she has the same problem, they will always call us "teacher" or "miss"...finally I managed to get them to call me "Miss Miquela". I guess that's as good as it will get!


We said our goodbyes and I headed back to PK10 where we ended the evening with a prayer meeting in the main hut. Because most of the village is illiterate it was mostly the children who said prayers, which is really wonderful, since often children are not given enough encouragement or opportunity to participate in things, be they religious or secular. It's astonishing how near-sighted people can be and not realize that the little ones whose imaginations and joy we crush with our fatigue from work and our own lack of enthusiasm are the leaders of tomorrow! They must be nurtured!


At 8:30 the entire village broke into song and the drums came out! This kind of spirit is being lost in the city and so it was uplifting to see it still well and alive in this beautiful village. We quietly excused ourselves since we did not want the singing to end but we also did not want to be on a dark road too late at night!
As we walked out to the car, we looked up at the sky and were greeted by the most amazing night sky I have ever seen in my entire life! We were so far away from the city that we could see every star clearly and the moon shone so brightly we didn't notice it was in fact the only thing providing us with light! A beautiful end to such a beautiful day!

Lesson Learned:
Never take anything for granted, that includes people. Express gratitude as often as possible; you never know when the time will come that you will no longer have what you thought you always would. Gratitude for things and people makes detachment from them a little easier.

The Lights of the World

This morning was by far my most enjoyable children's class so far. Part of possibly had to do with the size of the class: just four children with a few babies; but it was also greatly due to the fact these children were absolutely marvelous to be around. They are so bright and well behaved and as they are all brothers and sisters, they all had the same amazing smile.

The class was our first so the topic was unity. It is quite a challenge to present the subject of unity to young children, particularly at an age where they have had little exposure/ are oblivious/ don't understand disunity. But I find this extremely comforting, because these young ones are learning that unity is the norm! So when they are confronted with disunity and/or prejudice, they will hopefully immediately recognize it as being wrong. Perhaps they will actively work against it, or perhaps they will simply not get involved, but this in itself is progress, and this is the slow process of transformation that must take place in order for true unity to be established.

It was also our friend Jules' birthday today so we made a sad attempt at a cake, that ended up actually being brownies, but I guess it's the thought that counts. Jules is like a son to the Walkers, the people we live with and also practically lives here since, like many other youth, his home life is not the best.

We then made a dash out to a lovely swimming spot called Terre Rouge (red earth) as a birthday treat and raced back (yes, we do a lot of dashing and racing) to go out for some home visits. Our schedule is progressively filled up by different areas of this cluster (a designated area of Baha'is in which activities are coordinated), but before we can begin activities in different areas, we must first meet the people, and this evening's home visits were to meet the Baha'is in an area called PK10 where we will be going tomorrow. It will be a full day of activities!

Lesson Learned:
Negative attitudes are contagious and criticism gets us nowhere unless it is constructive and aimed at finding a better way to do things or behave. We sometimes think we are indispensable and must pile up everything on our own shoulders; unfortunately this can lead to a breakdown or anger at others for not doing enough, and never allows others to learn HOW to take responsibility.

Another day

It truly feels like things have started rolling and we are following a real schedule. After a wonderful breakfast of fresh papaya this morning, Denissa and I headed into town to settle our driving school bill, where, after flashing our pearly whites, we got a 10 euro discount and used the money to buy ice cream. We spent the morning preparing for our classes and at 3:30 headed out to the Vampire (yes, it's an actual neighbourhood) where we each have a children's class. For some reason the children were rather rowdy today and they just kept coming! I had to raise my voice once which shocked the children but after explaining to them that I didn't like to yell, they calmed down a little. The largest problems arise from the huge age differences and the language problem. Just when it felt like these 18 children would never calm down I was sent two angels! These two older children, about 11 and 12, appeared out of nowhere and started quieting the children, handing out markers, and passing out paper. They said nothing to me until I asked them for their names, which they gave and then returned to the children. After prayers, they just left. It was so strange.
We raced home at 5:30 to eat and got back in the car an hour later for our junior youth classes. Denissa facilitates an already existing group, while I headed to a new house in the hopes of finding another group of willing youth. I unfortunately chose the exact time to walk to this new house as the entire neighbourhood soccer team decided to end practice...luckily they behaved themselves and I escaped with only a few calls of "Snow White".
To my great joy, I arrived at the pre-determined house to find four smiling and enthusiastic junior youth, soon to be joined by two more: 10-13 years old, 3 boys and 3 girls...a perfect group! We brainstormed for a name and decided on the Tigre-Butterflies to characterize the group's pursuit of beauty and grace whilst maintaining strength; we then played some games and talked about what they wanted to accomplish in our time together and we parted with big smiles and happy waves.
Lesson Learned:
In dealing with youth and children, one must be extremely cautious in how they deal out encouragement and support. One can sometimes perceive that a certain child is in need of special attention and neglect that another needs it just as much, and you can end off doing more harm than good.

Try something new...

Well, this is my first blog. Whoever thought of this is a genius and hopefully it will allow me to give more frequent updates as to my adventures in sunny (and humid!) French Guiana.
Stay posted!